Overview
- Saxony’s DGB urges the state government to keep the midweek holiday but scrap the extra payroll charge on employees, pushing a pledged Bundesrat initiative from the CDU–SPD coalition.
- Employees in Saxony contribute about 0.5 percentage points more to long-term care insurance, averaging roughly €207 per person annually, while employers save.
- Outside Saxony the day is a normal workday; in Bavaria students have no classes but teachers remain on duty for training or conferences as shops and offices stay open.
- The Bavarian Parents’ Association proposes swapping the school-free Wednesday for the Friday after Ascension Day, a change observers warn would be legally complex and could face constitutional challenges.
- The observance falls each year on the Wednesday before Totensonntag in mid to late November and is an official public holiday only in Saxony.